Improved railway-car axle



D. M. CUMMlNGS.

Car Axle.

No. 91,424. Patented June 15, 1869.

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DANIEL M. CUMMINGS, OF EN'FIELD, NEW HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF,FRANCIS H. WELLS,-AND SALMON R. GODFREY.

Letters Patent No. 91,424, dated June 15,1869.

IMPROVED RAILWAY-CAR AXLE.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of thesame.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DANIEL M. Oumvrmes, of Enfield, in the county ofGrafton, and State of New Hampshire, have invented a new and improvedRailway-Gar Axle; and I do hereby declare that the following is a fulland exact description thereof, reference being bad to the accompanyingdrawings, which form a portion of this specification.

One end ofmy improved car-axle is turned to a true tapering shape, asshown inv Figure 1 of the drawings.

' The sides of the tapering portion, 11, of the axle inwardly terminateat the abrupt side of the flange e, which radiates beyond the sides ofthe body of the axle.

A steel sleeve, (1, which is screw-cut on a portion of its outerperiphery, is. fitted accurately on to the said tapering portion b ofthe axle, and is retained in said position by means of the screw-couplerc and the axle-flange e, in the manner shown in the drawings.

To prevent the possibility of the loosening of the sleeve (1 upon theaxle, the coupler c is generally made of such a size that it must beexpanded by heat before it can be secured to the aforesaid couplingposition.

Radial screws f, passing through screw-apertures in the sides of thecoupler 0, may also be employed for holding the said coupler and sleevein their proper positions; but the shrinking of the coupler 0, upon thesleeve (1, is deemed a much more secure manner of holding the two in afixed position.

Suficient space should be left between the inner end of the steel sleeved and the axle-flange e, to enable the sleeve to be drawn inward,for,thc purpose of tightening the same upon the tapering portion b ofthe axle, whenever it may become loose thereon by frictional action.

If the coupler c be shrunk to its place on the sleeve (1, as a 'matterof course, it must be expanded by heat before it can be turned upon thesleeve, to produce the said tightening-effect.

The car-wheel is forced on to the steel-sleeve portion of my improvedcar-axle, in the usual manner of securing car-wheels to the solid endsof car-axles, and, being left at the usual distance from the end of theaxle, the portion of said sleeve which projects beyond the wheel,forrns'a steel-bearing journal for the same,

as shown in fig.v 1.

Within the inner periphery of the hole in the head of the screw-couplerc, a groove, h, is usually formed, for the reception of any suitablepacking-material, to exclude the dust from the frictional surfaceswithin the sleeve (1.

This mannerof combining a car-wheel with one end of a car-axle, it;willbe perceived, permits the carwheel to be rotated upon the axle wheneversuch r0- iation may be desirable; and this it does without permittingthe slightest degree of lateral vibration of the wheel upon the axle,whilst the arrangement also furnishes a steel-bearing journal for thatend of the axle.

At its opposite end, a portion of the periphery of the axle is turnedoff, a steel sleeve, g, is shrunk upon the said reduced diameter of thesame, and then the car-wheel is forced on to that end of the axle, allas shown in Figure 2.

The said steel sleeve 9 usually extends inward about halfway through thehub of the car-wheel, and the portion of the thimble outside of thecar-wheel, forms a steel-bearing journal for the same.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. Securing the wheel-carrying sleeve (1 to the tapering axle-end b, bymeans of the inwardly screw-cut and flanged tubular coupler c, whichacts conjointly with the screw-threads on the periphery of said.sleeveand with the radial flange e, on the car-axle, when the saidwheel-carrying sleeve d extends outside the carwheel, and forms thejournal-bearing surface at that end of the axle, all substantially asherein set forth.

2. Also, the journal-sleeve g, when the inner end of said sleeve extendsonly partially through the hub of the wheel, on that end of my improvedcar-axle, and is retained in its position by the severe pressure of theinner periphery of said hub upon portions of the axle and the sleeve,substantially asherein represented and described.

The foregoing specification of my improved railwaycar axle, signed andwitnessed, this 24th day of Deccmber, 1868;

DANIEL M. CUMMINGS.

Witnesses:

B. H. Pmnnv, O. T Comes.

